In an impending major shakeup at GroupM, the WPP media arm has announced in an internal email that agency brands will cease to operate as separate business units and will move to a single P&L.  

As part of this overhaul, GroupM is set to merge its agency brands – EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, and Wavemaker – into a single entity, and will no longer operate as distinct business units with separate P&Ls.  

Agency-specific job titles will also cease to exist and the group will move towards a unified named structure operating as one company, as per reports.

However, agency brand names will continue to exist as client service brands to house dedicated client teams, according to media reports.

In India, Mindshare is headed by Amin Lakhani, Wavemaker by Ajay Gupte and EssenceMediacom by Navin Khemka. WPP's India CEO is CVL Srinivas.

The move is expected to affect some roles across markets, leading to layoffs in the workforce, beginning as early as the coming week in certain markets. In the internal memo to staff, Brian Lesser, CEO, GroupM confirmed layoffs as part of the effort to simplify GroupM’s operating model. 

Earlier this year, WPP announced the exits of Shubha George (former chief client officer, WPP India) and Apoorva Bapna (former chief culture officer, WPP India).

The development also comes on the back of reports that WPP would be dropping the GroupM name in the coming months to be rebranded as WPP Media. 

There are further speculations that the creative and digital agencies as part of WPP will be merged similarly as WPP Creative and WPP Digital.

Manifest has reached out to GroupM for further updates, the story will be updated as and when we get a response.